Censorcation!

Nick Sauer recently posted a piece on his blog 1:1 Schools, asking a basic, but important question:

"How can we trust our teachers with our students, but not the Internet?"

Sauer's post really made me reflect on my own situation and the battles that a few of us have been fighting with the district. In my county and school we practice what I call Censorcation, with regards to Web 2.0 technologies. It really is a censorship that China would be proud of.

Let's see, gone are Facebook, GoogleDocs, Gmail, Google Chrome, Flickr, Google Images, Yahoo! Images, Twitterfall... and many, many more.

We are so afraid to let our students use these technologies in the classroom. However, the students are not the issue (well a few are). But rather, administrators and districts alike must hold educators and students accountable for their actions and abuses of the Acceptable Use Policies. Some educators get a laptop cart and just pass out the computers... with no structure, no lesson. Well, of course there are going to be abuses of the Internet. Is the problem the Internet, or the teachers who does a disservice to his/her students, with or without technology?

It is frustrating, especially after answering the call of educators such as those at TeachPaperless, of going paperless in the classroom. We cannot block the world through Censorcation from our students. Those who misuse these powerful learning tools (teacher or student) must be held accountable.

But most important... don't penalize the masses because of the actions of the few. Pretty please.

More to come...

Mike Meechin, M. Ed.
mike.meechin@gmail.com
twitter.com/innovateed